


Uni Verse Evil

by WaltzQueen



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen, Gen Work, Swapped At Birth AU, Trans Female Character, Trans Marco Diaz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-01-04 21:57:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18352496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaltzQueen/pseuds/WaltzQueen
Summary: Universe Butterfly is the next in line for the throne of Mewni. She's dedicated to her country, smart and scared of her own shadow.Her parents send her to Earth so she can learn to handle daily life with bravery and confidence.Who better to teach her than Corazon 'Cora' Diaz?





	1. Chapter 1

The egg laying goes well enough. Heckapoo has helped Queen Comet through it and is sure she'll help many more. It's not an essential role of her station but she likes having some variety occasionally so she jumps in when she feels like it. The egg is a deep violet with sky blue speckles in a circle around the top. It feels warm in her hands as she carries it out of Queen Moon's room into the nursery. This is her favorite look to mewmans. They're all mysterious when they're in their eggs. They hatch in about four hours and pupate later and it's alright, but the egg form is nicer; it's a quiet before the storm. 

Rhombulus stares curiously as she sets the egg in its nursery bassinet. She shoves away Rhombulus as he crowds her, too wonder filled to care about personal space.

Hey how come you get to hold the egg? I wanna hold it, too!"

"Rhombulus, tone it down, would you? Queen Moon just Laid! She needs to rest. Soon she'll have to deal with a baby boy or girl."

"Well, which one is it, a boy or a girl?" Ugh, Rhombulus, for queendom's sake.

"I don't know, none of us do."

"I'll go get Lehkmet, he can tell us." Rhombulus tears out of the room before she can tell him it wont matter in four hours.There's hardly any point in it, but if it'll keep him quiet she'll let it pass. She's not really supposed to leave the room, but..  
Heckapoo doubles in an instant and hands herself twenty bucks. Soon enough she's got a magazine and a dragon egg. (she didn't ask for the dragon egg, but one of her saw it and just had to snatch it. It could be a cool pet later.)

Lehkmet's dragged into the room less than half an hour later, Rhombulus' snake arms wrapped around his shoulders in a parody of a hug. Heckapoo throws up a casual "Yo" that goes unheard under the sound of Rhombulus desperately needing to know the future of the little heir inside the purple eggshell.

Lehkmet bleats exasperatedly and agrees with a roll of his eyes. He's half bent down to kiss the egg, when a copy Heckapoo tears open a portal and is attacked on her way through, propelled by a blast of what is presumably dragon fire into the bassinet where the egg is laying defenselessly. It's barely into the air when Lehkmet wraps his arms around it, bringing it into a fearful embrace. The split second of panic has him pouring too much power into the simple divination and seeing much more than he intended.

Lehkmet looks up, horror in his eyes at what he has just seen. The baphomet holds the crown princess in his hooves and considers. They all stand at the crossroads of the future, the precipice of history coming back to bite them and destroy the queendom. He could let it go ahead and play out or he can alter fate one action at a time. Either way he needs to do something and he needs to do it in the next three hours.

\-----------------

The exchange is simple, really. Rhombulous crystallizes the entire room, during the hatching ceremony. Heckapoo takes the almost hatched princess to the copy nearest the largest gathering of newborns. That copy just happens to be on Earth. She grabs the nearest blond child she can. Meanwhile, Lehkmet in view of all of the crystallized  gathering shatters one of the guards on duty, killing them in a single strike. Then, when Rhombulus frees everyone the hardest part begins. Lehkmet spins them a tale of a scrying on Rhombulous's behalf and foreseeing an assassin attacking the newborn as soon as they leave the shell.  Moon is alight with power, her hair standing on end at this news. With a swipe of the wand, the shattered remains of a faux assassin are swept from the room. Claiming that Heckapoo has spirited them away to safety, Lehkmet lays a comforting hoof on the Queen's shoulder.

When Heckapoo returns, the queen cries at the sight of her child and, aside from a heightened mind for castle security, puts it out of her thoughts entirely. And just like that, their secret remains secret. Just like that the royal family is safe from even itself.

\-----------------

  
Queen Moon Butterfly steps away from her paper laden desk at ten in the morning. She hasn't been getting any work done, only gazing at the picture of her mother in the corner of the room for the past forty minutes. She had looked forward to the day that she would receive her wand from her mother when she was a child and had been devastated with the way it came about. She was going to live that fantasy from the other side, now. Soon the crystal heart wand would take another shape and usher in the beginnings of a new era. If only her mom were there; there to see her grandchild's hair darken with age from newborn blond into a lively chestnut brown, there to see a princess cast off the title of prince, there to see her hold her wand for the first time.

She isn't there, but Moon is. And she's going to go give the wand to the next in line, like her foremothers stretching into the distant past. She stands in the quiet of her office, breathing deeply. She opens the door into a new tomorrow.

Or at least she tries. She only gets it half a  foot open before it hits the back of a guard. Moon's gloved hand unerringly finds its way to her temple. Of course there were extra guards today, of course. Universe wouldn't have had it any other way. Doubly so on a day like today. Moon swings the door again, only to find that the guard has not budged an inch.

"Queen Moon, is that you?" Oh, she recognizes that voice.

"Yes, Captain Donna." Moon rolls her eyes from the safety of her position behind the door. Who else would be coming out of her office at this time of day?  The door swings open as Donna steps handily to the side.

"My apologies Queen Moon, I was assigned to your door." Donna  follows along at a respectful distance as Moon makes her way to the Ballroom.

"Universe, I presume."

"Yes, your majesty."

Moon resists the overwhelming reflex to sigh as she sidesteps the seemingly endless visiting dignitaries. That girl was terrified of half the kingdom. Moon was proud of her, of course. She had grown to be a fine princess, once that nonsense about her being a boy was cleared up, but she was overly cautious to the extreme. She eyes the plethora of extra guards around the entrance of the ballroom and wonders if telling her about her birth was a mistake. Although she is a Queen of Mewni, she's certainly no Skywenne, Queen of Hours and has no aptitude for time magic. It would just have to be left alone.

\-----------

"Universe, the ballroom is too crowded with guards for half the guests to so much as step foot inside. The defense spending is over budget. Again. and the Old Guard are being run off their feet training the new recruits. This would all be manageable if it weren't for you barricading people inside their houses!"

Universe Butterfly frowns, mouth curving like the marks on her cheeks. "But i just want them to be safe!" And she does. It's a dangerous world, full of deadly creatures and lethal pits of vipers and that's not even touching on the literal monsters outside the border.

Moon looks at her daughter. Her dark eyes and skin, so reminiscent of Grandmother Estrella that it softens her rage a little, are tinted with the blue-green glow of the nearby shield surrounding a peasant's hut. The glow shines off the embroidered crescents on her overdress and the metal feather shaped clip in her hair. She looks so small, clutching her wand to her frill bedecked chest. The wand is, of course, a shield. With a waxing crescent around the diamond in the center and a heart shaped pen-nib at the end of the handle and a butterfly winged guard, it is very much a dedication to the protection of the butterfly lineage. It's also a clear sign that she lives in fear every day.

Less than two weeks after her receiving the wand and she's already trying to 'protect' the citizens. She aptly remembers when Universe was five and was startled by a warnicorn colt. Her next riding lesson was severely hampered by her trying to 'make it safe' by covering herself and the warnicorn and half the stable in pillows and blankets. Or when she was eight and spent half a month trying to wear armor on all trips outside the castle. Or when Universe suddenly became fearful of some imagined poisoner and demanded to watch her family's food be prepared for a week and spent the next month with taste testers for safety. Or when she was afraid of hypnotizers and-

Moon is jolted out of her reminiscing as Universe bubbles a passing rabbit. Moon catches her eye and glares until Universe finally lets the protective bubble drop. Maybe she shouldn't have told her that story about the day she was born, after all.

\----------------------------

The decision is a long time coming, but it feels like the only thing to do. The problem was never Discipline and St. Olga's is guarded beyond recognition/reason, meaning it would be just the same as staying at the castle. Glossaryk is cryptic, as usual, but makes good points for both choices.

In the end it's all up to corn. She assigns the left hand to _home_ and the right hand to _away_ and snaps the Cornito in half. It is with a relived sigh and some crumbs that she starts drawing up paperwork.


	2. Chapter 2

It's junior year and Cora Diaz isn't quite on top of the world but she's close to it. Janna throws a bouncy ball with a skull on it into the little basketball hoop Cora installed on the inside of her locker door. It goes through with a swoosh and a tiny electric growl.

"And the crowd goes WILD!" Janna throws her hands in the air and mimics the shouts of an excited crowd. Across the wide hallway, Corazon Diaz shakes her tweenage hips and waves her arms, performing a small cheer routine ending in a graceful jump. They giggle freely  until Brittney steps into their little bubble of fun.

Janna leans against her locker, watching silently in the way that Brittney hates but refuses to acknowledge. Cora rolls her eyes and quickly turns back to her own locker,feigning ignorance of the other girl across from her. When Brittney gets closer she turns to greet her.

"Hey Brittney, what's up?"

"So, Diaz, have you been practicing the routines? 'Cause we're going to need to make some changes." Brittney flips her hair over her shoulder and huffs. She's still wearing her cheerleader uniform, as though she's just been in practice. It's only second period.

"Did Sabrina break her arm again?" If she didn't have the tenacity of a barnacle she probably wouldn't have made it into the cheer squad, but she did. And she spent most of her school career recovering from cheer squad. Brittle Bones could really make sports dangerous.

"Yup" she responded popping her P like bubblegum. "So we need you to be flyer this season, or until she re-breaks something."

"Alright, Brittney." Cora's a better base than a flyer, but Britnney's in charge so that's how it has to be. "I'll see you on Sunday." Britnney walks away with only a "your foundation needs a touch up" as she goes.

"Oh sugar cookies!" Cora hurriedly snatches out her compact to check. The mirror reveals nothing wrong but she puts on a little more just in case. The birthmarks had been fun when she was five, but it was attention grabbing in the wrong way now. She sighs as she stows the makeup back in her pocket.

"You know, I could curse her for you," Janna offers again. Janna never stops offering and Cora never takes her up on it but appreciates it all the same. "It sucks you have to put up with Brittney just to be on the cheer squad." Cora silently agrees. "You could just quit and set up a Fear Squad with me." Cora grabs her book and closes her locker as they make their way to class.

"What would the Fear squad even do?"

"Oh you know, curses, hexes, boils. The classics. That sort of thing." Janna mimes grabbing at a boil swelling on her face and Cora can't help but laugh.  
  
They're in Algebra when she's called to the principal's office. Thus starts the rest of her life.

 

Mr Skeeves is waiting there with two fancy people. They're both wearing blue. She feels out of place in her yellow shirt and paint spattered capris.

"Ms Diaz, I want you to meet our foreign exchange student- Miss Universe Butterfly." He swings out an arm like some kind of showman toward the fancy adults.

"Um, She looks kind of old-no offense Ms Butterfly."

"Hmm," The lady hums, obviously unimpressed. "Yes. Anyway, I am not the exchange student," the fancy lady says, moving aside. "She is." Still trying to hide behind her mother is a scrawny looking teenager with dark hair. She's wearing a red hoodie over jeans with a feather shaped hairclip. Most notably, there are two crescent birthmarks on her cheeks. Cora touches her face unconsciously. There's no way for her to hide anymore so she lets go of her mother's skirt like if she does it fast enough Cora would not have noticed.  Universe walks forward to stand next to her mom(?) and curtsys.

"Hello, I am crown Princess Universe Butterfly of Mewni. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She holds out her hand with the palm turned down like she was showing off a ring.

"Hiya, I'm Cora." She grabs the new girls hand and gives her a quality handshake. Cora can only watch with confusion and amusement as she snatches her hand back in apparent fear.  The new girl's hand shocks her as she pulls away.

"AHEM."

"Sorry, Mom." Cora shakes the static fizzle from her fingers as Universe goes back to her mother's side.

Mr Skeeves jumps in with an assignment for Cora. "Miss Diaz, I need someone to keep an eye on her and you seem the type to like to make friends. Who better than you and your family? Now, scram, I've got a date with a Baskin Robbins." With that Universe and Cora are shoved out into the hallway of the school, written exception from classes in hand.

Cora sends a minute being confused as the new kid stands there uncomfortably. It takes time to percolate for Cora but when the shoe drops it makes a bang. She just got a new friend.She Just Got a New Friend! Cora reaches out and grabs Universe by the hand, Grin splitting her face in half, dazzling.

"We're gonna be best friends, Uni! Best Friends!"

And so it begins.

\-----------------------

"I apologize for the inconvenience. Really, I-AUGH!"

"Welcome to Earth!" The couple in the entrance is enough to shock Universe right out of her shoes, luckily they are strapped on securely. She can only look around in confusion as they all but push her onto a couch and put a slice of cake in front of her.

"We heard from the principal that we were chosen to have you with us during your time here!" The man is very loud and actually very welcoming. It's enough to put her at ease despite the surprise. "Imagine coming all the way from, where was it again, dear?"

"Mewni, actually, Mr Diaz." She grabs the plate and pulls the cake towards her. Marble cake, nice.

The woman jumps in excitedly. "Mewni? What a lovely name! Reminds me of Paris when you say it with a French accent, _Paris_ , _Mewni_." She smiles with a giggle. 'I think it sounds great!"

"Yeah, Mewni is pretty great. It's a shame about the monsters, though."

"Monsters?!" Universe feels vindicated as the entire Diaz family looks aghast.

"Just outside the barriers of the queendom are wild monsters. Some of them can shapeshift and crush houses and all sorts of things. Luckily I'm the crown princess which means I get the royal wand!" Universe brandishes it proudly despite being what is essentially a shield on a stick.

"Hey, that matches your face! " It really does. A silver shield bears a crescent moon around a red diamond in the center. Butterfly wings peek out from the shield point leading to a silver handle with a pen nib on the bottom. "It just needs a beauty mark."

"Well, I-Hey!" Universe scowls as Cora pulls the sharpie away from the face-plate of the wand. "This is a magical heirloom going back centuries. Don't draw on it!"

"I promise I wont, as long as you let me try it!"

"Cora, maybe you should find out what it does before you try it out?" Mrs Diaz suggests amiably. "So, what can your wand do, dear?"

"I can create all kinds of shields and barriers. Mom-I mean Queen Butterfly, can make all sorts of things. She made most of the houses in the land with magic alone. She can speak to animals. I don't think she needs the wand for that one , though."

"Ooh," Mr Diaz squeals. "That sounds so exciting! I shall dream of the possibilities all night!"

"Oh, we haven't even shown you your room yet. Corazon, be a dear and show Universe her room?"

"Okay mom!" Once again Cora takes Universe by the hand and drags her along. When they get there the room is a tad...spartan. There are no curtains or artwork. The single window is unadorned in the beige wall. "So, how do you like it?"

"It's very serviceable. You have my thanks." It has the tone of an oft recited line, something repeated from someone else. It also sound like a lie.

"You know, if you don't like it we can change it up a little!" Cora is all but bouncing in place as the exchange student smiles slowly.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" Cora, who is expecting to be able to paint new pictures on the walls and tie-dye the curtains, is both dissapointed and amazed when the new girl waves her Shield wand and the room stretches like Mike Teeve from the Wily Wonka remake.  
Stone stretched towards the sky, forming an armored tower branching off of the two story suburban house. Blue curtains hung over crescent windows. A fourposter bed sat against the wall. It was every bit the room of a princess.

"Huh. didn't think that would work."

"Omigosh! Omigosh! You need to do that to the garden!" Cora drags Universe down the stairs ignoring her protests until they reach the backyard.

"You can't keep dragging me like that, Cora. And where's this garden anyway?"

"It's right here!" And Universe beholds the saddest plot of farmland she's ever seen before. Barely a square three feet, with all the plants over-watered or dried out completely. It is an affront to the name of a garden.

"Yeah, okay. This thing needs help." She ushers Cora out of the way, safety first, and faces the barren plot of land, wand in hand. The moment stretches on. How is she supposed to help this? Does she change the soil? Could she move some water around? No, the plants themselves were a better bet.

Unbeknownst to her Cora is sneaking up behind her, impatient with the lengthening wait. Maybe the new girl was feeling nervous? Maybe all she needed was some confidence! Well, lucky for her, Universe is exchange-Buddies with the best cheerer in Echo Creek! Cora draws in a breath, deep and centering and lets out a cheer behind the unsuspecting princess.

"You can do it, Uni!" Universe squawks and reflexively casts on the garden, blasting the plants with a pulse of magic. Cora and Universe both look on in shock at the , literal, blasted heap. Then the plants spill out of the ground, climbing over each other, halfway burying the house in squash and cilantro. A rosebush envelops an unattended bike. At the center a cactus rises and rises, a verdant sundial larger than Uni's own tower. Who would even plant all these in the same garden?

"This is the coolest thing ever! Let me try next!" Cora grabs at the wand, every inch the excited teenager.

"This wand is only for the next in line of the crown of Mewni. Last I checked, you did not fit that description!" Universe held the wand above her head, playing the oldest game in the world; keep away. "Besides, if I let go of it for even a moment, it could be stolen."

Then the monsters swarm in to steal it. Five monsters climb over the simple wooden fence separating the Diaz's property from their neighbors'. Universe takes a startled half step back only to trip over an unruly squash vine. The bearnicorn and Fly creature waste no time descending on her prone form. She barely has the time to think about how right she was to be wary when the monsters are batted away.

Standing in front of her, in her day-glo shirt and capris is Cora Diaz. She ducks low as a fiend takes a swipe at her, only to knock their legs from under them. She drives an elbow into another foe and grabs them, spinning around to knock them both to the ground. Universe is amazed, but the Crown Princess has no place on the ground and she rises, wand upheld.

She doesn't know how to move or how to shape the magic in her wand the way she wants it. All she knows in this moment is how to shield herself. That she wants to shield her queendom. She wants to shield this girl. Universe Butterfly builds it up inside of herself.

Then she lets it out.

"Lunar Shield!"

A shield appears behind Cora, protecting her from a giraffe man's hoofed kick. The rebound sends it sprawling to be lost in the moving foliage. Cora turns to look. Her blue eyes seem bluer in the sparkle of it.She reaches out to grab it. The shield moves easily, plucked from its hovering appointment behind her back. Cora raises it in time to deflect a burst of fire from a one-limbed dragon thing. She doesn't have time to see the Flyman rising above the fire and coming straight for Universe. But Universe does.

What was it that her mom cast? How did she do it? Was it- "New Moon Wave!"

It isn't what she meant to cast. She was going for a Starlight Wall, but this works, too.A flood of night pours from the wand, clinging to the fly creature. It's angle changes as it zips back and forth, screeching "I'm blind! I'm blind! I'll never read sheet music again!" Like monsters even understood music. Then another monsters appears, climbing over the fence, barely not tangled in its own clothes and oversized yak skull hat.

"You escape this day, Universe butterfly! But I, Ludo, shall prevail in the end! Your wand and your Kingdom will be mine!"

Universe has no idea who this monster is, but "Ludo" or whatever was in for a taste of what could happen when a terrified girl finally discovers that she can hit back.

"It's not a 'kingdom'," she yells, aiming the wand. "It's a 'Queendom!"

"Well, it won't be a "Queendom" when it's mi-"

"Lunar Shield!" The wand shoots out another shield, red this time. This one goes flying at the audacious little monster. It knocks it off the fence and about forty feet away. It shrieks as it goes. Universe has never felt so focused and ready for more. Which , of course, means they all run away.

"Retreat" comes the call of the monster Ludo and to a one, the monsters heave themselves off the lawn and out of the yard. The only straggler is the bearnicorn in uniform, who heaves the concussed giraffe man out of the squash vines and tosses him over the fence before following. The air resumed its afternoon stillness and the adrenaline died down and the magic dispersed.

"Well, they didn't seem so tough. Huh, Uni?" Cora turns to her new best friend and  is wrapped up in a hug that would threaten to break her ribs if it got any tighter. Cora goes to hug her back, but Uni pushes away before she can.  
The brown haired girl keeps her hands on the blonde's shoulders for a moment before stepping back. She straightens her hoodie and checks for her hairclips before turning her attention back to Cora.

"Cora Diaz" she begins loudly. She pauses, waiting for something before she whispers "you should kneel."

"Okay." Cora plays along. She drops to the ground, criss-cross-applesauce. Close enough.

"Cora Diaz," Uni resumes. "You have fought in defense of the Crown of Mewni in her time of trouble. For your daring and bravery I hereby bestow upon you the-temporary-title of Royal Guard." Universe makes a stately show of placing the face of the wand against Cora's head. It would be mildly impressive, if anyone were actually watching.

"Cool! And I, Cora Diaz, bestow upon you! The lifetime title of Friend!" Cora launches herself upwards to  hug her new princess friend.

"Are we really friends already?"

"Yup! Fighting bad guys together makes you instant friends!"

"And you aren't afraid of the monsters?" Cora pulls back from the hug and gives her new friend a nudge with her elbow.

"They got beaten up by a couple of girls. How bad can they be?"

"Alright. Friends it is!"


	3. Chapter 5 Mewburty

"Ugh, I just cannot get this pudding right!"

"Are you sure you want to keep trying?" Uni says, eying the box lunch that Cora has just opened. Specifically the plastic container of dubiously named pudding. The servants at the castle had made flan and other puddings lots of times and none of them had ever looked like Cora's attempts. "Maybe you should just buy some?"

"I will never surrender! I will defeat this pudding!" Uni can only watch in disgust as Cora tears off the lid and takes a spoonful of it into her mouth. Janna silently passes a napkin to her, absorbed in whatever book she's reading. Uni places it near Cora and silently raises a shield over herself and Janna. Soon enough Cora has projectile spit out her attempts at dessert.

"Listen, Cora. Maybe you should give it up." Uni taps her wand sideways on the cafeteria table, the shield she conjured mimics it, letting the not-pudding slide off and into the paper napkin before dissapearing. "I know your father is a chef, but maybe it's just not for you. We all have different talents, after all."

"Yeah, you Could give up," Janna says lackadaisically. "Or you could go beyond the norm and create a pudding that no one's ever seen before. That'll impress folks."

"Impressing people, is this about Oscar again?" Uni looks pointedly at Cora as she raises her sandwich to her mouth.

"No!" Which means yes. "It's just that Oscar's so bad at creativity! He's always trying but failing and I figure if I can show him how to do it, he'll listen when we give him advice on stuff." Cora reseals the remaining pudding and shoves it back in her lunch box.

The blonde belligerently pulls out her own sandwich and takes a surly chomp. "Besides, it's not like you can talk, trying to impress Jackie Lynn-Thomas."

Janna finally looks up to enjoy the sight of the foreign princess being flustered when something catches her eye. "Uh, Universe, you've got something on your face."

"Did some pudding get on me? Ew!" Uni flips up the bottom hem of her hoodie to scrub at her face but nothing feels different.

Cora leans over the table with a fresh napkin when Universe pulls her face up and "Woah." There are crescents on her face. More than usual. "Are your birthmarks like freckles? Can you get more of them?"

"What? No, I-Argh!" Uni looks into the compact that Janna has shoved into her face and is horrified to find multiple white crescents dotting her skin like stars.  "I think I'm going through Mewburty. I was afraid I never would!" She smiles with relief before it turns into abject panic. "Oh no, I'm going through Mewburty!" She stands abruptly and bolts from the crowded lunchroom. Corazon and Janna look at each other for a long moment. Janna looks back down at her book.

"I took care of the last crisis." That was right, it was Cora's turn. welp. Universe is surprisingly fast and by the time Cora's in the hallway she can't see her anywhere.

"Hmm. I'm a terrified teenage girl with my first crush and paranoia. I'm not fast enough to go home but I need to hide-Oh! Oh, duh!" With that Cora jogs to Uni's locker and knocks on the door. "Are you okay in there?" The sound of papers crinkling underfoot emerges from the metal box in response.

"Cora? Cora, you need to stay away from me!"

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Humans have puberty, too!" Cora's eyes catch movement. A little white crescent moon is sliding out of the locker vent. It falls into a small pile of them. Huh.

"This is Mewburty, not puberty! I should be quarantined!" Even despite Universe's tendencies to panic, this time it actually sounds more serious than some free floating paranoia.

"Is it really that bad?" Cora asks, a touch concerned.

"Yes! I literally shouldn't be around a single boy, girl, or other person. I should get home immediately, but there will be people on the streets. I need help!"

"Look, I don't know how to help you, but maybe your spell book will. I'll run home and get it!"

"It's not there, Cora. I lent to to Mr. Candle."

Even in the midst of a crisis Cora stops to ask "Why?"

"He likes illuminated manuscripts and offered extra credit if I lent it to him." Well, Cora supposes that checks out.

"Okay, I'll go get it. " Cora's off like a shot. Mrs. Foley, the English teacher just holds out a prefilled detention slip that Cora takes as she runs past. Thank the stars that they've got an understanding.

The counselor's office isn't very far away and Cora's running at top Linebacker speed So it's a matter of minutes to get there. She rams the door with a shoulder only to rebound into the lockers.

Oof. Right, Doorknobs. Cora rises quickly, all teenage resilience and desperate need. She opens the door as quickly as her hands will let her.

Mr Candle jolts in his seat when the door slams open.

"Ms. Diaz," he says, closing his Malleus Maleficarum copy with a huff. "What has you up in arms?"

"No time! Where's Uni's book?"

"Ms. Butterfly's book? I thought Ms. Ordania was bringing it back to her." Of course, Janna would have it!

"Thanks Mr. Candle!" Cora's gone before he can reply. Lunch is probably over and it's study hall, which Janna has a 60-40 chance of skipping. If she was skipping she'd be hanging out with Hope and Leah next to the Home-EC room in case of free snacks. With a destination in mind, Cora dodges and weaves around the hall full of students.

\----------------------

Universe, meanwhile, sits in her locker. She slips out another milky white crescent through the vent. She allows herself to breathe a little. This was manageable. It was okay! She was doing just fine.

"I can't wait for the newest album to drop," says a familiar voice outside. Universe can only watch as Jackie Lynn-Thomas strolls by, shell shaped phone pressed to her ear. "There's this great new single and I think it's gonna be on it." Uni feels a fresh rash of moons form on her arms. She tears her eyes away only to catch on the Swimming Team as they stand outside her locker and stretch, shirtless. She tries to backup but she can't. All she can do is close her eyes and pretend to ignore the moons poking through her skin, gluing her fingers together.

\-----------------------

Janna's just where Cora thought she'd be. Leah and Hope see her running full tilt and scatter, leaving just the two of them and the book that Janna had been reading throughout lunch.

"Janna-Banana, I need that book! I'll owe you one!"

"Done deal, Diaz." Janna tosses it at the blonde and runs off in Hope's direction. "I'll see you later." Cora hardly hears her, focused on flipping through the book.

"Time travel, stampedes, gardens, bones, sunspots. Oh, isn't there a-an index or a glossary or something?" As if on cue the book tears itself from Cora's fingers and hits the floor wide open. Like a windy day centralized on a single book, the pages flip themselves to the perfect middle. A figure rises from the pages; blue, white haired, with a gem set in its forehead.

"Did someone say Glossaryk? Cause that's me. Sir Glossaryck. Of Terms. At your service, milady. "

"I need a spell for Uni! She's go-"

"Ah, Universe Butterfly? Does that mean You are not the princess?"

"Well, No. But-"

"Could have fooled me. Regardless, this book is for Magical Princesses Only. Goodbye." The Spell book shuts itself. Cora gapes for a moment. What the heck?

"H-hey! Universe needs a spell! Open up!" She strains against the binding. It won't let her pick it up, much less open the stupid thing. "Uni has mewburty and she needs help!" Whatever force was keeping the cover closed releases its grip and Cora goes sprawling backwards when it opens. "Finally!" The little blue man floats out of the pages, the very picture of serenity.

"I suppose i can make an exception this time. But I require something from you. Pudding."

"All you want is pudding?" Cora's dumbstruck. Of all the things. All he wants is pudding.

"Exactly."

"Come on." The blonde scoops up the book. All she has to do is get the pudding from the cafeteria and then get to Uni. She can do this.

\----------------------------

Matt Zimmerman wants to be a drummer. He drums all day and all night. He drums up and down the school hallways. And when the teachers take away his drumsticks for drumming on the desk in class he drums with pencils. Right now he's drumming on the lockers as he walks to pre-calc. One locker makes a squishy noise instead of the standard metallic thump. But he doesn't notice, too absorbed in his own head. Zimmerman also doesn't notice the little white moons that cling to the sole of his boots as he opens his locker.

The cause of those moons is currently swimming in them. Universe feels simultaneously exhausted and wide awake. Every bat of her eyelashes sends loose crescents falling from her white stained skin to the bottom of her self made, metallic prison. The only part not swamped in crescents is her face and its hardly helping matters because she can see everyone that walks by.

Matt is so close that it's hardly any effort to raise her moon coated arm out slowly and touch his cheek, gently. Like a living thing, the moons spread across her face and her arm recoils from the human standing next to her locker. Matt, who figures he's going to have to deal with this sort of thing from fans in the future, shrugs off the odd behavior and closes his locker. He doesn't see the light coming through the locker vents. Anyone who had would have noticed the startling appearance of two shining moons in the darkness.

\----------------------------

"What do you mean you threw it away?!" Cora's shout draws the attention of the C-lunch crowd.

"Sorry, kid," the lunch lady replies from her station behind the counter. "It was expired I'm pretty sure. And you did just run off and leave it past the lunch hour."

"Okay but do you have any more?" Cora's grip on the spellbook redoubles as the lunch lady shakes her head.This can't be happening. Her new friend is sick and she can''t help. She needs pudding but where to get some.If they were out she'd have to m- "I have to make some!" The blonde teen takes off running back the way she came. Back to the Home-EC room.

The door is still ajar from the last class and she can see a clear path to the stove. She's not supposed to be in here unsupervised after last month's salsa mishap but that's fine. She'll take the detention with Janna later and focus on pudding for now.

"Okay, okay. Pudding. Pudding. I neeeeeeed milk, sugar, ummm, eggs?" She pulls ingredients and sets them on the counter. She sets the pot on the stove and turns up the heat. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. "Okay, pudding time!"

\-----------------------------

Students in the halls stop and stare at the cocoon plastered to the locker bank. It's a white, huge sphere with a dark section on the left side giving it the appearance of a crescent moon. Crystals seem to be growing out of the bottom, spreading slowly across the floor. The novelty of it makes it a prime selfie spot. A couple of the braver children take pictures next to it. It's only when Zeke Jackson fumbles and touches it with his bare hands that the true nature of the thing becomes apparent.

Zeke lets out a startled shriek as a hand appears on the other side of the white mass. Then another appears, And another. There are six hands inside and they're all connected to the same person. The hands fumble around the inside like they're searching for an exit. When none is found the hands begin to push. The sphere stretches like dough against the pressure, resisting all attempts to break free. Zeke and the other students all back away, half afraid- half in shock. A couple people are recording when she breaks free.

The cocoon implodes, collapsing on itself violently. White eggshell pieces rain down around the figure standing in the wreckage. They're grey-scale, like a half colored drawing. Her feather hair clips are longer like silver moth antennae springing from her head. In the palm of each hand is a dark shape, each one a different phase of the moon. Wings like flower petals hold her aloft in the storm of shattered cocoon. Her short hair floats around her head in a brown tinted corona as she surveys the student body gathered in front of her. In the dead silence all of the onlookers hear her whisper " **P R E T T Y** "

\--------------------------

"Here! Pudding!" Cora slams down the bowl full of pudding so hard a crack goes through the ceramic. The blue onlooker raises an eyebrow.

"Well."

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to feed it to me?" Cora doesn't even hesitate. She grabs his lip and yanks it down. She grimaces at the way it stretches but that doesn't matter right now. Her other hand reaches out towards the cracked bowl and jams the whole thing into his mouth. She yanks the lower lip up, forcing him to close his mouth.

They stand in silence for a moment as Glossaryk's eyes widen. Slowly he swallows. Cora watches the bowl larger than him slide down his tiny throat with morbid fascination. How did he... Whatever, she's got to help Uni first. Physics questions later.

"Is that good enough?" She points to the remaining pudding still on the stove. "I've got more if you want it."

"MMMMMPUDDING" the little man yells, springing off the cover of the book and straight into the pot on the stove.  Cora moves over to it and witnesses him swimming in the curdled, over cooked remains. "So, you said Universe is going through- _BURP_ -mewburty?" Cora nods frantically.

"What do I do?"

"Nothing. You can't stop it."

"But she's sick! She needs a quarantine! I have to help her!" Cora watches Glossaryk rub the pudding on his face for a moment before looking up at the distraught girl.

"Look, kid, nature is like a runaway dump truck – hot, fast, and full of garbage. And that's what this is: Nature. Besides she'll be back to normal by uhh," he raises his leg from the pudding to glance at the watch on his ankle, "3:57 PM. Or she won't"

"Won't what?"

"Be back to normal." A spike of fear flashes through her.

"Isn't there anything else you can tell me? Is there anyway I can help?"

"Of course there is, my lady. But you're out of pudding." Cora examines the pot, it's wiped clean. He's somehow eaten all of it in a split second.

"But!" He's no longer in the pot. She hears the Spellbook slam shut behind her. "Ugh! What a jerk!" Another sound grabs her attention, then. Someone's screaming outside, in the hallway. Cora sticks her head out of the door to check it out.

"Woah." The hallway is covered in white crystals. They glitter under the fluorescent school lights like ground glass on the walls. As she walks down the corridor she spies students hiding behind larger outgrowths of milky rocks.

Janna runs past her with a "Look alive, Diaz." Janna slips through the open door of the Home-EC room and slams it closed.

Cora doesn't even need to ask to know that this isn't typical high school happenings.  There's another scream. This one's closer, just around the corner. Her paint splattered t-shirt and pink headband stick out among the monochrome walls as she breaks into a jog.

"Oh no."  It's Uni, but she's flying. What is she doing, though? Cora looks on at the princess as she tears the door off a locker and shoves the captain of the football team inside. Her extra arms move across the locker, spinning a sticky web, locking him inside.

" **PRETTY BOY** "

"Uni, I know you want to protect everyone, but I don't think this is helping!" Uni doesn't respond. She just continues to spray webbing on the cowering football player. "Uni! You need to stop!" Frustrated and afraid, Cora grabs Universe and pulls her away.

It barely works. Uni only moves three feet before she shifts her focus to Cora herself. The restrained arm latches on to her and begins to spray the blonde with the same pearlescent webbing.

Cora falls backwards and kicks up, dislodging the flying princess from her death grip on her arm.  Universe hits the ceiling, narrowly missing an outcropping of crystal. She floats back down gently, lighter than air before abruptly turning to look through a hallway window. Cora follows her line of sight to see Jackie Lynn-Thomas practicing kick-flips in the school parking lot. Cora wants to warn her, but she's wearing earbuds. Oh god, she can't hear what's happening.

 **"PRETTY GIRL"** Uni starts flying in Jackie's direction.

_Think fast, think fast. Gotta catch a giant  butterfly. I need a net. Where am I gonna get a net?_

Jackie continues practicing in the parking lot, unaware of her approaching kidnapping. _Ocean Man_ thrums through her earbuds as she falls off her skateboard. She doesn't even see the pale hands that just barely missed her. Jackie crawls on her hands and knees to fish her skateboard out from under the principal's car, avoiding the other hands grabbing for her.

Universe makes a move to web the unsuspecting girl when she's dragged backwards by a volleyball net. Cora crows triumphantly as Uni struggles to break free. The celebratory noises stop when Uni swerves herself into a tree. Half the cheer squad falls out of the branches on impact. They flee screaming, except for Sabrina, who has probably broken something again. Cora kind of feels bad about that one.

She hardly has time to do so, because Uni goes swerving out of the tree at mach five, dragging Cora with her. It's basically the worst rollercoaster ever. The brunette zips across the school grounds, yanking her friend through the crystalline halls like a screaming streamer. Cora catches sight of Janna as Universe whips past the Home-EC room.

"You're making things worse," Glossaryck says through the mouthful of pudding Janna is feeding him.

Is she really making things worse? Should she let go? Uni flies through an open window, back to the parking lot. She flies in circles heading for where Jackie is hanging out with Oscar Greason on his car's hood. She always had faith in whoever she cheered for. She always had faith in Uni, maybe it was time to put that faith to the test.

Cora lets go of the net. Uni zips over to Jackie and plucks her off the car. The blonde can only watch as Universe floats into the sky, carrying Jackie in her arms. Did she really mess everything up so bad? Would Uni never come back? No! She just had to believe!

"You can do it, Universe!" Cora says, defiantly at the open sky. "You can beat it! Who else is gonna protect the ki-er, queendom?" The sky doesn't reply.

A beeping noise sounds to her left. Janna stands there, holding the spell book open. Glossayrck's watch continues to sound off. It reads "3:57:00 PM".

 _Oh god. She didn't come back! She didn_ -A crescent moon lands on face. Another falls on her hair. Something is falling towards the ground, it's a person wrapped in white moons. Cora dashes to intercept them. The person hits her arms with a small explosion of withering pale moons, unharmed.

"Woah, dude" Jackie groans. "I wasn't expecting that today." She wiggles free of Cora's arms and stands on her own. She's shaky but okay. But where was-?

A crash comes from inside the school. Cora takes off running, athletic endurance being put to the test. Debris is still settling around the site of Uni's locker-turned-cocoon. The white crystals that had grown around it are little more than white dust, disintegrating as time goes on. Little white crescents shrivel and blow away.

"Universe?!"  There's the sound of shifting stone as Uni surfaces from the remains of her locker. She's back to normal. She's Back to Normal!

"Uni! You're okay!" Cora rushes in to hug her. She giggles with relief, tears falling from her eyes. "I was so worried!" Slowly Uni hugs her back. "I thought you weren't ever going to come back. I, uhh... what's that noise?" Uni pulls back from the hug and tilts her head listening.

"Oh! Cora, check my back!" Uni spins around to show off her back to her friend.

"It's just a hoodie, Uni."

"Oh, right." Uni pulls the hoodie off to reveal her back where two small wings are nestled, poking through her shirt.

"You have wings! You really are a butterfly." Cora really wants to touch them, but Uni hates being touched without asking so she makes every effort to resist. "Does this mean you can fly?"

"I don't know about flying, but I know it means no one can argue that I'm not a princess anymore!" Cora has no idea what that means, but they'll unpack that later. Right now she has a different focus.

"Are you sure you can't fly? Give it a shot." Flying Uni means painting the ceiling and putting up party decorations more easily and a pretty muse for pictures.

"I think I've had enough flying for today." Cora laughs as they embrace in the hallway, happy to be okay.  
  
\--------------

  
It's Uni's turn to go into the shower first, so Cora washes the dishes as she waits for her turn. It occurs to her that she's going to have to replace that bowl that Glossaryck ate. She wonders if they'd be okay with one her homemade clay bowls when Uni shouts. Shower times are the worst times for monster attacks.

Cora bursts into the bathroom, one hand over her eyes, the other gripping a baseball bat. "I know you hate me coming in unannounced but I'm here to help! Now, where's the monster?!"

"Cora!" Uni doesn't sound like there's a monster, she just sounds excited.

"Uni are you okay?" She keeps her hand over her eyes, but peeks through her fingers, just a bit. Uni's standing in her shower cap, towel wrapped around her torso.

"Sorry, sorry. The, uh, water hit my wings weird." Cora peeks through her fingers at Uni, who seems pretty dry? Whatever. "Sorry for scaring you." Uni steps forward and sets a hand on Cora's shoulder, guiding her out of the bathroom.

"Alright, if you're sure." Cora turns around, just so she can drop her hand from her face. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Thanks, Corazon." Universe Butterfly closes the door behind the blonde. She locks it for good measure. It takes a minute for the sound of Cora going back downstairs to reach her ears, but once it does Uni turns to the mirror over the sink.

It's still her. It's still her eyes and skin like her great grandma's. It's still her mole like her father's sister. It's still her hair brushing her shoulders. But better than that; It's finally her. It's finally Princess Universe Estrelle Butterfly. No one would ever call her a Prince ever again.

She watches her hand brush against the pink terrycloth towel in the mirror. It touches her chest, over her heart, and goes down and down. Her smile grows, pushing the crescent moons on her face farther apart. When she was six she had asked why she had the name she did. "The whole universe within your smile," her mother had told her. And it is now that she truly knows that she's her mother's daughter.


	4. 8 Bloodmoon ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom invites Universe to a ball in an effort to patch up their post-failed-relationship friendship.

Universe Butterfly is fiddling with the end of her new orange belt as the teacher goes on about history and symbolism. It isn't Mewni history and she can't really focus on the significance of earth's 'cars' so she figures it's somewhat excusable that she doesn't notice the flaming carriage rolling past the classroom window.

  
She's preoccupied with wondering what color belt she'd have for her wand skills. Would it be green? Or would it be blue? She can't really decide where she'd stand quite yet. If her mother was a black belt in wandwork, then Universe knew she'd have a lot further to go. Her hand wanders from the karate orange belt on her waist to the wand peeking from her red cardigan's pocket.

  
She's using the pen nib at the end of the handle to draw a stick figure of her mother in a karate Gi when Mrs. Foley says "Can I help you?" The brunette looks up and immediately regrets it.

  
Universe wants to hide her head in her hands,but doesn't. She's a Crown Princess and she needs to face this head on, with dignity. She refuses to groan as Tom Lucitor, Prince of the Underworld, levitates Ingrid Bloomgren and her desk into a corner.  
"Hey, Universe. " Tom whips off his sunglasses and extends a hand towards her. "I'm here to take you to the Blood Moon Ball." With that a burning crescent moon appears above his hand.

  
Uni directs her wand at his hand and sprays it with fire extinguishing foam. Her doodle is ruined, but the classroom is not on fire, so she'll call that taken care of. As for the source of the fire...

  
"Mrs. Foley, may I be excused?" Mrs. Foley, who already looks tired of the demon interrupting her class on The Great Gatsby agrees with a nod and a hasty gesture towards the door. Uni grabs Tom, who is flinging his hand around to get the foam off, by the non-flaming hand and takes him with her out of the classroom. She veritably drags him to the front of the school and into the parking lot.

  
"Tom, why did you come here completely unannounced? And you just stormed in like that. I could get in trouble!"

  
"Live a little, Versi!" Universe lets go of his hand and levels an unimpressed look his way. "You need to relax and the Ball could be a great place to do it." There he goes, downplaying everything.

"You never take me seriously, Tom."

"Look, I'm sorry if I don't seem like I'm being serious, but I am." Tom swings his arm out to the flaming carriage they're standing beside.

"You want serious? I made this carriage-by hand- just to prove how serious i am about this."

"You made this by hand?" Even mad, Uni can see how impressive it is. Between the window settings and the tasteful carving around the door latch, it does show serious dedication. It doesn't have anything to do with the current situation but it's impressive anyway.

"That's Radical!" Both of the royal teens' heads snap to obverse their interloper. Cora's at the front of the carriage, trying to feed the skeleton horse an apple. The apple keeps falling through the horse's jaw, but it doesn't seem aware of this.

Tom takes the moment of distraction to sweep Universe, literally, off her feet with a burst of carefully controlled flames. The flames deposit her in Tom's arms before going out with a puff. "Look, Versi, things have changed. I even got a life coach to help me deal with the anger. I know how much you didn't like the anger."

"Hi, I'm Brian." A portly man with a receding hairline leans out of the handmade carriage, holding an Angora rabbit. "And this is Marshmallow, our little helper."

"Oh, He's so cute!" Cora squeals from her position at the front of the carriage."I wanna pet him!" Universe, however, is less easily star struck.

"Tom, put me down" Uni growls. He sets her on the asphalt immediately. She folds her arms and sighs. "Look, Tom. Why do you even want me to go with you?" Tom hesitates a little, but that tells her all she needs to know. "Look, Tom, it didn't work out, okay?"

"I know, I know" Tom placates. "I know we didn't work out that way. But, I just want to get back to where we used to be. Before, you know?" Tom reaches out to hold Universe by the shoulders. 

"No permission, no touching!" Cora, though enjoying the fluffy bunny, had been keeping a sharp eye on the demon. She intercepts his unauthorized contact with a sharp chop. She's fairly proud of herself when the dude's arms pop off, suit and all. "No tocas la Princesa!" 

Tom jumps back only to step forwards again, eyes glowing with hellfire. Cora realizes she may have bitten off more than she could easily chew as he lets out a growl. She stands her ground, regardless. Corazon Miranda Diaz does not surrender and she won't start now.  Her line of sight is cut off as Uni moves in front of her.

"Tom, she knows that I don't like being touched as a surprise. She was helping me." Uni sounds halfway consoling, halfway angry herself. She turns back to her would-be knight with a tired sigh. "Thanks but, please don't karate Tom anymore, Cora." Cora shrugs noncommittally.

The girls return their attention to the demon near the carriage, who is rubbing noses with Marshmallow. The growls are gone and all that left is the sullen muttering of a pissed off dude. Cora magnanimously scoops up the detached arms and brings them over. She holds one out by the hand.

"Sorry about the arms, man." It's lackluster but it's an apology and it seems to help.

"No! No, no no no. You were just trying to help!" His pointy teeth are still grit, but it's better than it was so Cora chalks it up to a decent success. "I got my support system, and I'm working on myself. I'm good. Everything is good!"  

Cora watches in fascination as the limp arm stiffens in her grasp. The bone poking through moves to meet Tom's body as he leans forwards. It fuses back together seamlessly, flesh and cloth both. His hand , still clasped in hers, initiates a handshake. "I'm Tom, Prince of the Underworld. Nice to meet a friend of Versi's."

"I'm Cora Diaz." As Tom lets go Cora turns to Uni and mouths 'Versi?' with a grin. Her blush clashes with the crescents on her cheeks. Tom grabs hold of his other arm and sticks it back into place.

"Anyway, I can see you're still mad at me. You think I'm an irresponsible jerk. I see where you're coming from. But I really think we can be friends again." Tom reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out a  hand-bell. "If you decide you want to come just ring my bell. Anytime is fine. We'll be going all night." Tom holds it out to the princess patiently. Universe examines it silently for a moment before reaching out to grab it. Invitation delivered, Tom gets back into the carriage and prepares to leave. Uni steps up to the window.

"All night?"

"Well," Tom says with a bashful shrug, "The BloodMoon does only come once every 667 years. Oh, wait. Almost forgot the little hammer." Tom dissapears into the carriage and returns to the window. His arm holds out the tiny, metal bell-hammer. It's shaped like a skull. " I hope I see you there. "

"I'll think about it."

With that the carriage bursts into flames and vanishes from the face of Earth.

  
"Ugh, Tom never took things seriously. He claims to hate politics even though he's a prince? Like, grow up! Everything we do is political!" Cora watches another fancy dress hit the bed as the brunette continues searching for something suitable.

"Then why are you going?"

"I'm going because it's always a good idea to make friends with the people of an ally's country."

"Did your mom tell you that?"

"...Yes. But not about this. She says that every time we have to go visit the Spiderbite Principalities." Uni settles on a red toga dress and starts looking through her shoes. "Besides, I've got an orange belt now and the wand. I should be fine." An orange belt's not really that far along, but Cora hesitates to diminish Uni's already meager self confidence in her ability to defend herself.

"Can I come?" Uni looks up from lacing her boots in surprise.

"Why would you want to come?"

"In case you want back up or, if you want a distraction? I dunno. Maybe you could just use a friend?" Universe opens her mouth only to close it wordlessly.

"Well, if you're going, you should get dressed."

Cora squeals and hops off the fourposter bed. "This is gonna be great!" Uni's hand catches her as she goes past.

"You know they're demons, right? And they don't really enjoy outsiders. This will be dangerous if you're not careful."

"Pfft, relax, Uni! I'll be fine and more than that," She swings an arm around the princess. "I'll be right behind you. Besides no one will ever see through my disguise!"

"What disguise?"

"Hold on, let me get it!" Cora goes speeding from the tower. Universe takes the opportunity to curl her hair. It's getting longer, now. It's past her shoulders, giving just enough length for two curly pigtails. She takes a  glance at the wand on her nightstand. She could magic her hair longer, but she remembers when Cora tried to fix her broken arm. A shiver goes down her spine at the thought of the malicious tentacle. She'd rather wait for it to grow out than for her hair to grow uncontrollably or something. She can already see the knotted, greasy mess now. She looks back at her mirror to see a monster behind her.

She reflexively turns and throws her curler. The monster ducks under it and it goes sailing out the window to be impaled on the giant cactus' spikes.

"Nice toss. You need better aim, though." The monster takes off its skull face and horns to reveal the teenager behind them. "I guess my disguise worked too well, huh?"

"Yeah, Thanks for that, Cora." Upon further inspection Cora's already dressed. A powder blue tuxedo top shows a faux ribcage underneath. Matching pants lead down to boots shaped like pink, open mouthed dragon heads. The over all effect is certifiably monstrous, Uni supposes. "Where did you get all that?"

"Oh, we're big on Dia de los Muertos and Halloween. I just recycled some old costumes."

"Wouldn't you have outgrown them?"

"Yeah, but these are Mom and Dad's. I can fit in them no problem." She replaces the skull and horns on her head with a flourish. "Let's get this show on the road!"

"Your horns are obviously a headband, though. Let me just..." Uni comes closer and starts fiddling with Cora's hair. "I'll just pull your hair over the headband around the horns." There's the signature pull of a ponytail and then Uni backs away. She gives Cora a once over before proclaiming "Excellent work, if I do say so myself."

"Now," she moves to grab the wand and bell from her nightstand, "Let's go!"

\---------------

Uni and Cora step out of the hellevator to the sight of Tom amidst a menagerie of demons, ghouls and monsters.  In other contexts some of them would be dangerous folks to see, but here everyone's constrained to the propriety of ballroom etiquette. The only real danger is making or breaking a friendship.

"I'll be there if you need me," Cora whispers, slipping away into the crowd. Tom turns from his subjects to greet Uni.

"Versi! You came!" Tom's smile is familiar and infectious. His middle eye looks her up and down. "Your hair's getting long."

"Yeah, it's been growing faster lately." She winds a curly pigtail around her finger before letting it spring free.

"Oh, I got this for you." Tom holds out a tarantula wearing a ribbon around its thorax. "It'll help you fit in." Uni leans back warily. 

"Iiiis that going to bite me?" Tom shakes his head.

"Nah, this one's super tame. I promise." He holds the spider out to her again."She's a rescue," he cajoles.

"If you're sure, Tom."Uni takes the spider from the demon. It's hairy and warm. "So, do I...?"

"It goes in your hair. Here, let me do it." Uni complies, warily. Cora watches them across the ballroom floor, eyes peeled. She jumps a little when someone taps on her shoulder.

"Hey," the three eyed demon rumbles menacingly. Oh no, she's been found out already. "Where'd you get your boots?" Suddenly the shadow its casting across her isn't so intimidating.

"Uuuh, these old things? I'm borrowing them from my mom."

"Nice! My parents never let me borrow their hunting trophies. They say I've got to 'kill my own dragons' and whatever."

"Weeell, my mom doesn't know I'm borrowing these. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her." Cora also hopes it wont hurt her.

"Bummer about the 'Hunt Your Own Stuff' thing, though." 

"Yeah, it's whatever. So, wanna take a picture?" Cora is here for a reason, but she's a bit of a sucker for making friends. Besides, how wrong could things go in the time it took to take  a picture?

"Sure!"

 Cora and her new demon friend move over to the line for photos. It's not super long, only three people ahead of them. Cora looks on as two three-eyed demons pose for their photo. A bucket suspended above them is upturned. The contents, a literal shower of blood, rains down on them and the camera clicks. Well...it is the _Blood_ Moon Ball. And Uni came here of her own free will? Hardcore. Speaking of Uni, she and Tom step up on the dais ahead of them.

"I'm so excited to be covered in blood with you. But don't worry, it's not real. It's from a unicorn."

"I'm pretty good friends with a unicorn Tom. I'm pretty sure it would be a huge faux pas to bathe in the blood of our closest allies. Besides, it'll pool between my toes." The puddle of blood staining the bottom of her shoes is bad enough.

"I'm pretty sure they're not related. Besides, it's festive."

"I'm not gonna bathe in unicorn blood, Tom."

It doesn't take a genius to notice Tom hurriedly reaching behind his back." What's that hand doing back there?"

"Nothing." Yeah, that's not suspicious at all. She looks behind Tom and sees Brian standing by with the bunny for Tom to pet.

"Whoa, wait a second. Are you getting angry?"

"No." Which means yes.

"Look, why are you getting angry? You know I don't do the whole 'blood and mayhem' thing. And you usually don't either." Uni notices her own temper rising. Only bad things happen when the both of them are mad. Maybe it's compromise time. "How about we get the picture without the blood?"

"No blood is good!" Tom nods agreeably. It's the same expression she's used to seeing when he placates his dad. That's not a great feeling. The picture gets taken sans blood and Uni makes an excuse to step away for a bit. She's not super interested in food at the moment but he did remember to set out some cornchips. They're a good enough reason to take a breather.

Tom's usually so chill around her. At least he used to be. Maybe it was the party? But he was never like this when they went to any other parties. She swirls chip around the container of cheese dip as so considers. A bite confirms that it's her favorite brand-Cornitos. How ever weird he's acting, its kind of relieving that he remembered. She looks around a quick second before double dipping the chip and shoving it into her mouth.

"Hey!" The princess's shoulders go tight. Oh no, Caught! "Aren't you Tom's date?"  Oh, good, they hadn't seen anything. She loosens marginally as she turns to the voice addressing her.  One is a stubby horned demon with no midsection. The other is tall with a small head.

"I'm just here as a friend-date,"

"Yeah, sure, "friend-date."Well, I hope you're happy. He made this whole entire ball completely boring, all for you."

"What do you mean by 'yeah, sure'? Besides, I didn't ask him to change anything. And, look! There's darkness and fog and...buckets of blood! I wouldn't say it's boring."  
  
The shorter demon is instantly irate. "Oh, really? Aloof attractive people." He points rudely at a couple perusing the buffet "Boring! Bubbling cauldrons that don't even melt your flesh off." He knocks said cauldron off the buffet dismissively. The splash has Uni backing up to avoid it. " What is it, nap time or something? 'Cause I'm bored! "The cauldron rolls to a stop next to an empty tin can on the floor."Piece of garbage that doesn't destroy the universe. Stupid cockroach that lives inside. I'm over it already!" Then the demon runs off in a huff. Wow, who put them on the guest list?

The remaining demon , seemingly ignoring his punch drenched legs asks her if she wants to hang out. She doesn't even get a chance to consider before Tom strides over from nowhere and all but snarls "we're a  little busy here."

"Oh, I get it. I bet you think that, like, your soul and, like, her soul are totally gonna... " The royal duo look on with dubious expressions as the demon interlocks his fingers and goes "mmmmmm!"

"What is...," Uni imitates him," ..."mmmmmm"? That doesn't sound like friendship." Uni looks to Tom who is pulling the same face he had when he dumped a bucket of water on Lilliacia Ponyhead and tried to deny it being him, while still holding the bucket. He's saved by the metaphorical bell when a voice begins to speak over the intercom.

"Ahem. Good evening, ladies and gentlebremen. It is my pleasure that I request you now to turn your heads skyward." A crescent-shaped opening appears in the hand-shaped skylight on the ballroom ceiling. Even though she knows it's been there for a centuries she still feels a bit flattered. The melodious voice of the MC continues over the sounds of awe from the crowd. "When the light of the blood moon drubbles down and selects two lucky souls, binding them together for eternity in its hypnotic, ruby brodum."

The light of the blood moon covers the skylight like the wand charging up for a spell. She can hear an organ playing Mr. Lucitor's favorite song, Dark Abyss.

"Ugh! That's the wrong piece of music! This is gonna drive me crazy. Alright, don't go anywhere. I'll be right back."

She tries to be cool about it Well, he always was so particular when he wanted things a certain way. But even as she does it sinks in that this BloodMoon ball thing feels ingenuine. If he wanted to be friends forever again, he shouldn't have tried to use a celestial ball and chain to do it.

Uni aimlessly wanders the ballroom as she things about it. Maybe she shouldn't have come. Maybe she should just go home. Her shoulders slump as she begins to search for Cora. It's not hard to spot her surrounded by demons, all laughing at whatever she has to say.

"At least one of us is having fun." She sidles up to the social butterfly and whispers "I think I'm good to go, Cora. Let's hit the bricks."

Uni grabs Cora by the hand and they begin to make their escape. Cora doesn't say anything, not even a single question. But she supposes her hurried gait and silent frown say it all. They're halfway to the exit when she sees Tom standing straight in their path. She doesn't want to talk to him right now, but he's still looking around and he'll spot her any second.

"Wait here a second, Cora." The princess lets go and steps away, towards Tom. True to form, he has spotted her and is already making his way to her when the ballroom goes red. 

The copious amounts of blood and punch only look redder through the filter of the bloodmoon shining down on her. Her dress, chosen for the occasion, glows  in the magic light when she looks down to confirm that the celestial spotlight is centered on her. It occurs to her that maybe she shouldn't have felt so proprietary over the crescent moon-veiwing window if she didn't want this to happen to her. But that's not how her magic works and it's quickly discarded as her mind finds something more important to be worried about.  

She's alone in the light. It's the Bloodmoon-the Lovers Moon- and she's alone in it. Every fear that she ever had about herself is flooding back. That she was too much a boy and not enough a girl. That people would look at her and just know. The saving grace of every princess is decorum, the placitude to weather any obstacle, but she must not be princess enough either because she looks out at the gawping onlookers and fails to  smother a dry sob. The tarantula in her hair pets her consolingly with a tiny spider foot.

  
Then there are hands on both of her arms. Cora has her hand in her right shoulder, consolingly. The white skull mask is stained pink under the bloodmoon. Uni turns her head over and sees Tom holding her left hand in his.  The three of them can only look at each other, helplessly. And then, the cherry on this joke of a sundae, music begins to play.

Tom and Uni were never taught how to dance with a third person. It was very likely that Cora had never taken any kind of dance instruction in her life. Yet somehow, it didn't matter in the slightest. Uni felt both her friends take her arms in theirs. They walk clockwise around her, spinning her in place. She hardly knows which of them to look at, so she glances up at the moon. They spin her around once and as one the three of them move left in a flurry of graceful steps. She can feel Cora's eyes on here even as her own lock with  Tom's. Her shoulder presses against his for a moment. He steps away and raises their joined hands and , guided by a lifetime of ballroom dancing, she spins under it gracefully. The stil connected Cora presses close, pulled by Uni's turn into the center of the dance. Cora and Uni sway, eyes locked. Tom walks counter clockwise, untangling them from each  other only to tangle them the other way when he keeps going.  Cora switches grip from Uni's arm to her hand and links hands with Tom. Their eyes meet for a brief moment.

  
The three of them lead each other in a circle for a long moment before Uni plants on golden sandle in a misplaced puddle of blood and the three of them crash like a derailed ferris wheel. The music comes to screeching halt. The trio all attempt to rise to their feet as onlookers take videos with their Mobile Mirrors.

"Why didn't you leave?" Tom hisses, violently. "That dance was meant for me!"

"Tom, I'm allowed to have other friends!" Uni helps Cora up, grimacing at the feeling of unicorn blood between her toes. Tom ignores Uni entirely, too focused on taking out his anger on someone else.

"I'm the only friend she needs!" With a spout of flame rising from his shoulders he leaps at the singular human only to be stopped in his tracks as a block of ice forms around him.

"You need to cool off, Tom." It isn't her best line but she's not at her best right now. Uni examines the block of demon-sicle forlornly. "Come on, Cora. It's time to go home."

 

  
Uni signs heavily as the Hellevator demon unfurls the ramp to her tower balcony."Thanks for the lift, dude." The girls trudge into the room, carrying their bloodstained shoes in their hands. The ribbon clad tarantula pats Universe on the head and hops back into the elevator. The demon retracts the ramp and summons a pillar of flame to surround it. It slowly leans its head out of the fire.

"Sorry things didn't workout, Princess" it says in farewell before leaning back in. Then the flames vanish, demon and all, leaving the despondent teens to dump themselves on the luxurious four-poster bed. They lay there, staring up at the skylight in silence as the moon, almost pointedly red, hovers in the night sky. 

Cora inevitably breaks the silence. "I'm sorry I messed everything up. Oh, and it was going so well!"

"No it wasn't!" Uni  sits up, curling around a pillow. "I thought he wanted to be my friend again but he wouldn't even talk to me about it." Tears cut a trail over her moon  marked cheeks. "He just wanted to force me to stay with him with a-with a stupid magic moon!"

"Maybe he just wanted to be sure you'd stay friends forever?" It's a weak attempt that's  shot down instantly.

"If he wanted that he would have talked with me about it!"

"Well, did you try talking to him?"

"I just-He just does things and never asks how I feel or what I think about it. It used to be manageable but he just kept doing things, things that have repercussions, and not changing when they kept coming back to bite us. The both of us. He never actually-UGH." She squeezes an embroidered pillow between her hands.

"But does he know that's the problem?" Cora  sits up to look the princess in the eyes. "If he doesn't know what's wrong how is he ever going to change?"

"I guess," she sighs. "But after tonight, though...I'm not sure I want to be friends with someone who would do that." Cora raises her hand, and after a false start or two, sets it on the crying princess' shoulder.

"I don't know all the details or anything but you've got to talk to each other before anything gets fixed. If you decide you still want to be friends with him, you're going to have to talk with him."

"Well,...  at least it wasn't a total disaster. "Cora takes the horns off of her head and plops them down on Uni. "Now I know you can dance."  
Their smiles are wan, but genuine.


End file.
